


Such Great Heights

by RoseByAnyOtherName17



Series: The Lion, the Wolf and the Dragon [26]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Conflict, F/M, Sparring, Strategy & Tactics, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 20:56:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17291276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseByAnyOtherName17/pseuds/RoseByAnyOtherName17
Summary: The Dragon Queen's eyes met the Kingslayer's.Arya probably should have given this meeting some thought.





	Such Great Heights

**Author's Note:**

> Next installment :) please be aware that I know nothing of how swords are held in either hand, so all teachings from Arya to Jaime are purely guesswork and creative freedom. That said, enjoy!

Cersei never answered the threat of her brother’s and daughter’s heads – she never said anything at all.

 

But Jaime answered the threat of the Night King.

 

“I’ll fight alongside you and your bloody brother,” he said apropos of nothing during a card game, this time in the great hall after dinner. “But I won’t fight my sister. So if you’re thinking of asking me to do that too, you can rid yourself of that notion right now.”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Arya replied coolly, even though she was already thinking of ways to change his mind.

 

More and more though, she was thinking that it would not come to that. Whatever she said to Gendry on sleepless nights, there was one thing she kept coming back to, and that was sneaking into King’s Landing alone and assassinating Cersei in the dead of night. In the confusion, Daenerys could take the castle with minimal bloodshed. But it would not be as easy as that, with the sanctions on the city. No doubt Cersei had maximized security around herself as well. Arya would not get within ten feet of her, faceless or not.

 

It was probably time to go back to Dragonstone and prepare for the final battle. She could not think of any other ways to take King’s Landing.

 

“Will we take Ser Jaime?” Gendry asked. “We might be able to contain him between the two of us, but our route takes us fairly close to King’s Landing. The temptation might be too much for him.”

 

“I don’t know that it _will_ just be the two of us,” Arya mused. “The Stormlords deserve to meet the queen they are fighting for now. And Lady Olenna will not allow us to leave without her or Lord Tyrell.”

 

“We can’t bring an army,” Gendry said decisively. “Cersei will see it as an attack if one comes within thirty leagues of King’s Landing.”

 

“The whole city will go up in flames,” Arya finished. She groaned in frustration. “I don’t want to wait to send her another raven to figure this out. We have been in Highgarden for _weeks_ ; there’s only so much time left before Euron Greyjoy returns to Cersei. An attack then will be far more difficult.”

 

“What else can we do?” Gendry ran a hand through his hair. “Unless she sends a dragon to pick us up, anything we do will take weeks more. Especially if Lady Olenna insists on accompanying us to Dragonstone. You know that she will not travel by horseback.”

 

“Horse drawn carriage will be more like it,” Arya muttered. But his words gave her an idea.

 

She sent the raven without telling anyone and prayed it would not take long to find Daenerys. While she waited, she sparred with Gendry and the other men. But instead of sparring with the Kingslayer, she chose a less combative approach.

 

“You’re still gripping the sword as if you were holding it in your right hand,” she said patiently.

 

“What’s the difference?” he snarled angrily.

 

Arya stood next to him and let him see how her hand wrapped around Needle. “The balance changes entirely,” she told him. “The weight of the hilt rests towards your fingers rather than your thumb. It gives you more power in your forearm, rather than your shoulder.”

 

Jaime huffed out a breath. “And what, pray tell, does that do for my fighting?”

 

“Flexibility.” Arya demonstrated a basic swing, and then gestured to the men across the yard. “They fight with their body, see? Everything goes into one swing. But in your left hand, you hold the sword as an extension of your arm alone. Your body becomes a separate weapon.”

 

“My body is already a weapon,” Jaime scoffed.

 

“Not the way you’re using it,” Arya pointed out. “You’re at your best when you aren’t thinking about it. When we’re talking, for example. Do you remember what you did when you were mocking me about Gendry?”

 

“Our ‘fights’ are not very memorable.”

 

He was lying and he knew she knew it, but Arya was undeterred. “You used your right hand to push me back,” she reminded him. “You used it as another weapon, rather than a decoration to hide behind. You caught me off guard when you did that.” She laughed a little. “And then you immediately apologized and ruined the whole move.”

 

“My father taught me it is impolite to strike a woman,” Jaime murmured.

 

“But I’m not a lady right now, am I? I’m an opponent. And let me tell you, Ser Jaime, some of the dead are women and children. They will still fight to make you one of them.” He lowered his eyes, but she wasn’t finished. “Besides, women are not so fragile. I’m not an exception, I simply use my strength the way most women don’t. Take your sister – you would never imagine her to be fragile, would you?”

 

His jaw clenched. “My sister manipulates other men to do her bidding.”

 

“Including you,” Arya said. She was goading him a little bit now, carefully watching his left hand clench into a fist. “Her weakness was her children, but she doesn’t have those anymore, does she? No, what she has is powerful men surrounding her and the insanity that the Mad King had before you killed him. What _she_ has is caches of Wildfire underneath the city and a complete lack of conscience.”

 

Jaime’s right hand had been coming up, had been mid-swing when she called Cersei insane, but he stopped dead at her words. “What did you just say?”

 

“You know she blew up the Sept of Baelor,” Arya said. “It does not take much imagination to think she is prepared to burn the rest of the city as well.”

 

She didn’t understand his wide-eyed surprise, until she did. “Caches of wildfire?” Jaime questioned.

 

“You didn’t know about that,” Arya realized.

 

“Are you certain?” Jaime said urgently. “I thought…the wildfire in the castle was gotten rid of. My brother used what remained in the Battle of the Blackwater. There isn’t any left.”

 

“The Mad King did not tell you of all the places he hid his wildfire,” Arya told him, almost feeling sorry for it. “Margaery Tyrell warned her grandmother and her father. That’s why they fled the city. She thought if she and Tommen could contain Cersei, the danger would pass, but…she was too far gone by then.”

 

The man’s hands hung limply at his sides now. “Robert was supposed to find the rest and dispose of it,” he said softly. “I told him everything I knew. We searched everywhere…”

 

“We believe what remains is underground,” Arya explained. “A level or two further than what was beneath the Sept. We can’t be sure until we get into King’s Landing.”

 

Jaime closed his eyes. “If I had not left…”

 

“King’s Landing would still burn,” Arya said as gently as she could while still getting the point across. “But you would be on a boat with her, and without Myrcella. Or, if you tried to stop her, you would burn with it.”

 

It was the first time she had ever seen the Kingslayer without anything to say.

 

**

 

The dragon arrived much faster than Arya had expected, landing in the middle of the courtyard and men like it belonged there. She hadn’t expected Daenerys to come herself, but it was indeed Drogon who roared greeting to Nymeria’s snarls, and the Dragon Queen that was stepping gracefully to the ground from his back. Gendry dropped to his knee immediately, prompting the other men to follow. As Daenerys’ eyes flitted from man to man, Arya was strangely glad that Jaime had chosen to remain in the castle with Myrcella this afternoon.

 

“Your Grace,” she said, bowing her head. “I thought you might send Lord Tyrion.”

 

“I have yet to meet the Stormlords who have consented to follow me,” Daenerys said. “I cannot expect them to pledge loyalty blindly.” She smiled a smile that met her eyes. “I am pleased, however, that they have enough loyalty in you to trust me as well.”

 

Arya smiled back. “A Targaryen trusted a Stark for the first time in many years,” she pointed out. “That, in addition to being Ned Stark’s daughter, was enough to persuade them.”

 

Daenerys eyed Gendry. “Perhaps it wasn’t just that.” But the dangerous glint that had been in her violet eyes the last time she saw Gendry was not there now.

 

Gendry stood then and walked behind Arya and Daenerys as she led them into the castle, leaving Drogon to take to the skies again and the men in the yard to stare in awe. Arya made the apologies to Lord Tyrell and his mother, saving the awkward man from bumbling his way through introductions. Arya could see the amusement in the twitch of the queen’s lips, but she kindly accepted his kiss to her hand and then, to Arya’s surprise, took Lady Olenna’s hand between both of hers and kissed it herself. “I am sorry for your loss,” she murmured. “Your daughter was a strong, brave woman.”

 

“Thank you, child,” Lady Olenna said. “You might have gotten on, if not for her own determination to be queen.” She gestured at the chair next to her, but not as impatiently as she did with Arya. When she spoke again, there was evident respect in her voice. “Thank you for coming all the way here. I wish we had known,” and there was the familiar impatience as she glared at Arya. “We would have given you a proper Highgarden greeting and prepared a room.”

 

Daenerys shook her head. “All of that can be done when the Iron Throne is mine. A war is not the correct time for such things. And any room will do; I will only be here for the night.” She looked to Arya. “I trust you are ready to leave?”

 

Arya nodded as the door to the solar opened once more, revealing Jaime Lannister. “Ah,” he said. “Myrcella thought she saw a dragon outside. I suppose you’ve allowed one _inside_ too.”

 

“A dragon did not kill my granddaughter,” Lady Olenna said haughtily. “She is more welcome here than you, Ser.”

 

Arya stiffened. Daenerys knew that Jaime and Myrcella were here, of course, but despite her plans to bring Jaime back to Dragonstone with them, she had not given thought to the meeting of the Dragon Queen and the man who murdered her father. She wished she had now, though any warning given to Jaime Lannister would be lost on him, no doubt. The arrogance of his entry would be no different.

 

Daenerys stood again slowly, gaze not leaving the Kingslayer. “It’s a strange world we live in,” she said, “that a dragon might be considered less dangerous than a lion.”

 

Jaime raised his golden hand. “I would bet a good amount of gold that you have never been in hand-to-hand combat, Lady Targaryen,” he responded, “but I believe you could still strike me down where I stand without any harm coming to you. I am not so dangerous as you seem to believe.”

 

Arya spoke before Daenerys could. “Her proper title is Your Grace, Ser.”

 

“Not yet,” Jaime answered, eyes never leaving the silver-haired woman. “If and when she sits on the Iron Throne, I will refer to her as such. For now, she is simply a foreign invader.”

 

“The masters of Slaver’s Bay said the believed of me when first we met,” Daenerys said coolly. “You would be hard pressed to find one to tell you the tale themselves, though.” The implication was clear.

 

But Jaime was not fazed. “I mean no disrespect, My Lady, truly,” he said. “But two queens cannot rule a country. My sister is the true queen for as long as she sits on the Iron Throne.”

 

“A true queen who killed her child to sit there,” Daenerys mused pointedly.

 

Jaime inclined his head. “There is a reason I am here and not in King’s Landing, and it is not just because Lady Stark took me prisoner. Well,” he conceded, “I might not quite be _here_ if I were not captured, but I would not be in King’s Landing either. I promise that.”

 

“What worth are your promises to the woman whose father you murdered?” Daenerys asked. Her voice was derisive, but there was genuine curiosity in her eyes.

 

“My daughter’s life,” Jaime said firmly. “She is the one thing that has any worth to me now. And her life is worth more to me than my sword hand ever was.”

 

Arya sensed that the danger had passed, as Daenerys took her seat once more and did not stop Jaime from taking his own seat next to Arya. “It would be wise of you to presume that I will not fight my sister, unlike my brother,” he continued.

 

“I had imagined that to be so.”

 

“Clever of you, Lady Targaryen.” Jaime smirked. “However, I swore my sword to Lady Stark and her brother’s war. Again, with my daughter’s life as my motivation.”

 

Daenerys raised an eyebrow. “Well then,” she said, “it seems we may share a common enemy after all. Considering your sister never answered Lady Arya’s threat to yours and your daughter’s heads, it seems they are intact. On that matter, I am grateful she did not; your head I would not be sad to see go, but – Myrcella, yes? – she is innocent. Sold to be the wife of a stranger, rather like me, but you cared enough to rescue her where my own brother did not. She may have learned to love her husband as I did, but that is unknown now. What is known is that, in my eyes and in your sister’s, she is truly innocent. Unmarried to the enemy, and unaccountable for the sins of her parents. I swear to you, Ser, she will not come to harm.”

 

Jaime tilted his head thoughtfully. “You are nothing like your father.”

 

And for the first time since he had entered the solar, the queen smiled.


End file.
